But even so, why isn't Justin doing just a little more due diligence and background checking into what went on before? He surely can't have got to this age and been running companies like Damara if he's always just taken the word of anyone who sounds charming and plausible without doing any reference-checking or whatever, because in that case, he wouldn't have made millions, he'd have lost them.
In my experience people like Justin tend to hire and fire pretty much on a whim. It's one of the big issues with largeish private companies that have a single dominant individual running the show. They will bring in someone if they think they're right, often sticking them in a role that isn't necessarily their core area of experience - they tend to be banking on them being such a talented individual that they can make anything work and they set great store by bringing in people who 'can bring fresh perspective' (aka they don't actually know how to do the job but they think they're smart enough to turn their hand to it).
The positive flip side is that the same bloody mindedness tends to mean they're equally as quick and brutal in firing them if there is a cock up/they're not performing.
Re the reference cheking, you'd be surprised, in private companies there can be a level at which it's assumed that the person couldn't have got to where they are without being ok so why would you do detailed checking (see previous point about effectively hiring on the boss's gut feel). This is how you end up with the occasional corporate horror story and people who are discovered to have never been to France, never mind done the MBA at Insead they claim to have - each company assumes the one before checked it out and doesn't bother asking for certificates. Again, though, a small consolation is those people are cheap to fire if they do get found out as they tend to be reluctant to go to tribunal knowing they've been rumbled!